Wireless communication networks allow mobile devices to communicate with each other and other networks, such as the Internet and the public switched telephone network. First and second generation wireless telephone systems are generally constrained in the amount of bandwidth available for communication. This limits capacity and also the types of services that can be provided. Third generation wireless systems, which are being developed through the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), hold the promise of greater bandwidth, thereby increasing capacity and allowing for enhanced services, such as multimedia services. 3GPP is the new worldwide standard for the creation, delivery, and playback of multimedia over new, high-speed wireless networks. 3GPP enables the free sharing of multimedia files between a variety of devices, including cell phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and notebook and desktop computers. 3GPP devices include, in addition to a voice communication interface, capability for communication of data and display of data, including video.
The various types of media services available through 3G (3rd Generation) devices, such as telephony, fax, video telephony, high-quality voice transmission (audio), information retrieval, file transfer, messaging services (short message service, fax message service, etc.), Internet access, and paging, require different amounts of bandwidth. Bandwidth describes the transmission capacity of a medium in terms of a range of frequencies. A greater bandwidth indicates the ability to transmit a greater amount of data over a given period of time.
Prepaid wireless service requires payment from the subscriber before wireless providers will extend service and is a convenient alternative to the typical long-term contracts offered by wireless companies. Like prepaid phone cards, these plans let users buy a specified amount of airtime to be drawn from until it runs out. Wireless service can be bought in blocks such as $25, $50 or $100. Typically, prepaid wireless is offered as a rechargeable service in which there is a warning and, at the same time, the option of recharging. The plans are popular with wireless users who want to keep a close watch on their wireless expenses and are becoming more widely available.
With respect to these prepaid wireless services, the actual amount of units (or minutes) available for each block of airtime will vary depending on the type of call session (e.g., voice, video, streaming video, text, images, file transfers) and the quality of the call (e.g., low or high quality). For instance, if the call from the caller to the customer is initially to be a real-time multimedia call, including video data, then the bandwidth requirements for the call would initially be set up for a high quality class of service, which requires substantial bandwidth in order to accommodate real-time transmission of video data.
Currently, however, a prepaid wireless user is not able to change the bandwidth requirements for a communication session based upon the amount of pre-paid units available (e.g. airtime). Therefore, a need exists for a method and system for processing adjustments to the type and/or quality of multimedia communication sessions made by prepaid wireless users in multimedia telecommunication networks.